Mumbai, Dec 21 (IANS): Actor Piyush Mishra, also a known scriptwriter, music director, lyricist and singer, says he has rejected a lot of scripts in the past but he agreed to do the short film "Kathakaar" as he felt it had "an X factor".

The film, which is now available on the digital entertainment platform SonyLIV, has been conceptualised by film and television institute Whistling Woods International.

"With 'Kathakaar', I went purely with my gut feeling. I reject a lot of scripts, but there was an X factor about this one. I also had a question in mind as to how so much could be projected in such a short time span of 10 minutes," Piyush said in a statement. 

"As an actor, the character I play grabbed my interest. Having said that, I had no clue that the film would be so well made, and would go on to do so well," he added.

"Kathakaar" is the story of Prakash, an old theatre projectionist who loses his job owing to changing technology and goes back to his native village.

Depressed with the sudden loss of his job, he struggles to figure out what to do with his life. After he succeeds in making a crying child laugh with his storytelling skills, he gathers up confidence and takes a chance to become a storyteller for the entire village, thereby rediscovering his passion.

"Kathakaar" has been screened at film festivals like the fifth Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival, fifth Washington D.C. South Asian Film Festival, Washington D.C., II International Motivational Film Festival, Russia and sixth edition of Jagran Film Festival in Mumbai.

Directed by Abhimanyu Kanodia, the short film has been produced by Shraddha Singh and Naveed M.